The Glitch Hunters
by Jacred
Summary: Green and Jake... two trainers armed with 7 gyms' worth of experience, a varied arsenal of pokemon... and a camcorder. Their goal? Find out what's lurking deep in the Cinnabar Caves. But what they find may not be what they expected...
1. Prolouge

Disclaimer of DOOM!: I don't own pokemon. Don't sue me. o.oU

Hai. Yeah... I've lost count of how many times I've attempted a fanfic... I think this is my third. But it's the first in several years... it's different. It might as well be my first fanfic!

For sure, it's my first Pokemon fanfic. Old concept, though. It's also a rather large step back in time, all the way back to the R/B/G/Y days, when there were only 150 pokemon and Cinnibar Island hasn't yet exploded... Yet.

And lo and behold, it's... a MissingNo. fic. Yeye. After all... that glitch pokemon was just so fun, it's rather sad that the original has been taken out of the newer games. It could have been an official pokemon, and people might have loved it. I sure would have...

So... here's hoping that this story lasts longer than a chapter, and maybe even gets longer chapters!

* * *

"Hey, is it working yet?" 

The image was nothing but static for the moment, possibly making the recorder frown. "I'm getting sound, but the image…"

Suddenly, the static began to clear. The image was focused for a moment. "Oh, there we go." A little tweaking, and the image cleared. A young man, probably 16, stood in view. He wore a rather plain brown shirt and some jeans, both well worn, and his hair was brown and spiked up slightly. A belt around his waist signified his status as a Pokémon trainer. He gave a wave. "See! I told you it works!"

"Yes, and I almost didn't believe you." The response was obviously sarcastic. "This thing is an antique, Jake. I mean… _magnetic tape_. Who uses THAT anymore?"

Jake frowned. "Would you rather take the fancy digital camcorder into the volcanic caverns? I thought not. How about you start recording already?"

"It is recording." The holder of the camcorder sighed, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

Jake shrugged. "Well, shit. We'll have to cut this out… let's get the ACTUAL tape going then, alright?"

The camera image heaved, before steadying. "Alright!" He was speaking in a slightly more serious tone, although it still held hints of 'why are we doing this'. "Hello! Er… we're a group of trainers, and today, we're going to start an expedition into the Cinnibar Caves!" Jake made a face at the lackluster introduction, and immediately took over.

"Yo!" He waved at the camera enthusiastically. "I'm Jake, and our cameraman here is Green. Smile for the camera, Green!"

Green groaned as the camcorder shifted around, focusing loosely on his face. A younger looking guy, maybe 15, with long black hair, parted in the middle and combed to both sides. At this distance, it was obvious that his eyes were a dull shade of grey, and he had a touch of acne. He grinned nervously. "Hi."

The camera zipped back, focusing again on Jake. He was obviously holding in some laughter. "Wow Green. No WONDER you never got a date."

The cameraman fumed. At least, he sounded like he was fuming. Each of his mutterings was painstakingly clear over the microphone, and at the moment we was muttering about how much of a jerk Jake could be.

"Shut up, Jake, and keep going…"

The trainer nodded, and continued with his speech. "There are rumors that some great Pokémon lives in these caverns. Us two, being the great trainers we are, are going to go in and prove or disprove these claims."

The camera focused on what was behind Jake. The cavern was enormous, expanding beyond the reach of the viewfinder's range. The stalactites and stalagmites gave it the eerie impression of some gaping maw, ready to snap down at any moment.

The camera went back to Jake. "We're going to record our little trip, so we can come back and prove that something's down there. Or that there isn't something down there, if that's the case. Personally," at this, Jake gave a self-assured nod, "I think that there's something down there."

The camera went lopsided, and there was a soft _smack_ as Green expressed his utter disbelief. "Jake, you seriously will believe anything…"

"Better than believing in nothing." He turned and bent over, picking up a loaded backpack that had been sitting by his feet. "And now, our journey begins! Together, we will journey into the depths of the island and solve this mystery!" He put it on, and with some effort straightened up. "Come on, Green!"

Jake turned, walking into the cave, and the camera followed. "You're gonna get us in deep trouble one day, Jake…"

Still, the camera followed, descending into the depths of the cavern.

* * *

Reviews are happy. As is constructive criticism. Yes they are. :D 


	2. Shallows

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon. It belongs to Nintendo.

...holy crap. UPDATE. It took a while, but it's heeeeere... and probably not very good. AH WELL. I DO IT FOR YOU GUYS :D

* * *

For a moment, the camera continued to stare ahead into the gaping maw of a cavern, occasionally jerking to the side as it tried to focus on the receding 'host'. 

He suddenly stopped, his voice barely registering on the camera. "Are you coming, Green?" Jake turned to face the camera, now no larger than a thumb on the film.

"Oh, right!" The jerking increased as the cameraman speed-walked forward, his labored breath loud over the nearby microphone. "I thought you were going to say something…"

Jake was close enough to be heard clearly now. "Have some independence…"

---

Despite the ominous opening of the cave, once inside it was rather dull, and gave a general impression of looking far too much like lava rock for comfort. It was a stark reminder of the fact that they were currently traversing an active volcano. 

The focus was still on Jake, although it seemed to be focused more on his waist than his torso. Neither he nor Green was speaking, leaving only the echo of footsteps, the cries of underground Pokémon, and the sharp echo of dripping water. Without warning, the leader stopped, lifting an arm off frame as he started to turn.

"Right, right." Up went the focus, back to the upper parts of Jake, who was getting ready to talk. He glanced around a bit.

"We are currently about 5 minutes into the Cinnabar caves. As you can see," He motioned to Green, who moved the camera to the side, revealing a good portion of the cavern, "It's not much."

The camera centered again, but not before a sudden jerk as Green shifted hands. Jake raised an eyebrow, but said nothing.

"Despite the normality of these shallow caves, it is here where the most sightings of the supposed legendary are… however, these claims are rather varied. Some claim to see ghostly specters… others describe walking skeletons of ancient Pokémon. Strangest of all are descriptions of masses of static formed into a blocky form. These inconsistencies do little for the credibility of this myth…"

He paused a moment as if lost for words, or perhaps to add tension.

Green cut in, his voice unusually loud. "However, it should be noted that the variations have been unusually consistent, leading some to believe there may be multiple creatures."

Jake's lip twitched upward a bit. "Thank you, Green. Now... as you can see, there isn't much here, so we'll be moving on quickly." He stood there for a minute, and then dropped his stiff position.

"Steal my thunder, eh Green?"

The focus dropped down, aiming at Jake's sneakers. "I thought you were having trouble with the speech."

The sneakers turned as Jake turned towards the cavern. "It's called tension! You have no sense of proper movie filming, do you?"

The focus lifted to Jake again, who was walking again. Green hurried to keep behind him, the camera bouncing as he did.

"I'm a trainer, not a director…"

"Whatever… let's get going, the cave's getting deeper."

The camera's view slowly turned green as they progressed further into the darkness of the cave.

* * *

As always, I like reviews, as well as critiques. WOO! 


	3. Depths

Disclaimer: Pokemon is not mine. The characters are.

Holycrap it's been a while since I updated this. No wonder I never get anything done. :|

I'm gonna try chipping away at this again... I blame objective narrative for all of this! Why did I make this so gimmicky. Oh well. Here, have a two year old muse, which has dragged me into its grave! It's so very short :

* * *

The camera flickered.

"Eh...?" Green paused, the microphone picking up the thudding of his finger on the camera. "That's weird..."

"Green, hurry up!" Jake turned, currently a dark green blob on a green background. "We'll never get this done if you keep stopping to breathe!"

"No, it's... nevermind, it's nothing." The camera screen returned to normal, and Green ran to catch up. "So... hey, Jake? What are we going to do if we actually _find_ this supposed mystery Pokemon?"

Jake stared at the camera a moment, then put his arms behind his head. "We're trainers, aren't we? I'd try to catch it!"

"Isn't this Pokemon supposed to be really dangerous, though...?"

Jake grinned at the camera. "I don't see how it could be any dangerous than any of the Pokemon we have."

"...right." The camera turned to face into the darkness. "Hey, isn't it kind of weird how this tunnel just goes on straight? It's like someone just dug straight into here."

Jake's initial response was to yawn "It might have been an Onix or some other Pokemon. Don't worry, you've got your Blastoise to take out any of the Pokemon that would live around here."

"I think Skeeter would have trouble in the dark like this..." Green sighed.

"I've got Charizard, he could probably light things up here!"

"Yeah, in both senses of the word..." The camera was turned away. Then it flickered again, and Green made a worried noise.

Unaware, Jake continued. "You need to work on your jokes... hm?" The boy stopped suddenly. Green stopped too, the camera tipped downward.

"Hey, Green, did you feel that?"

"Huh?" Green sounded confused. "Feel what?

Jake was silent, looking around the dark cavern with a serious expression.

"Jake?"

A second longer, and then Jake visibly relaxed. "Nevermind. It was probably just a Zubat echo or something."

"...Jake, maybe we should get out of here." Green sounded worried. "We got Blaine's badge, we should be heading to the next gym..."

"Oh come on Green! Don't get so worked up." Despite his words, Jake sounded as if he would be glad to leave the tunnel as well.

"..."

"...okay, okay, stop glaring at me like that. How about we go for thirty more minutes, and if we don't find anything, we'll leave." Jake rubbed his neck, grinning sheepishly at the camera.

"...fine." Green sounded annoyed, and turned the camera towards the tunnel and started walking.

"Heeey! Don't leave me behind, I'm supposed to be the host of the show..."

Green laughed under his breath. "Lets just get this over with..."


	4. Return

Disclaimer: Pokemon is not mine. The characters are.

How did this muse ever die? I managed to write out the rest of it in one night. Honestly, this could all fit into one chapter, but... oh well. It's almost done :V

* * *

"Ding dong. Time's up."

Jake glared at the camera. "Not funny."

"Oh, it couldn't have been that bad, hearing the buzzer right before you finally found a Pokemon you wanted..."

"So says the person who spent all his time fishing for Magikarp." Jake cross his arms and muttered. "Has it really been 30 minutes already?"

"Right on the dot."

"Is this really that bad?" Jake frowned at the camera. "I thought it was fun..."

"You say that every time we go through a cave. The others weren't volcanic, you know."

Jake sighed, kicking the ground. "Okay. Lets go."

He turned around, and proceeded to walk face first into a rock wall.

Green strained to hold back a laugh. "Need some help?"

Jake muttered swears and rubbed his head. "You could've told me there was a wall there..."

"Yeah... sorry." Green sounded sheepish now. The camera turned, panning across two walls before staring down a tunnel. It whipped back to Jake, who was quickly recovering.

"...wait. Did we get turned around?"

"Eh?" Jake stared at the camera.

"Well... I don't remember us being at a dead end. Do you?" Green's hand was briefly visible on the camera as it turned to the wall, and he knocked on it. It thudded solidly.

There was a note of worry in his voice. "It sounds really thick, too..."

"It's dark in here." The camera focused again on Jake, who still looked fairly relaxed. "I'm sure you just got confused or something. But hey, that means the 30 minute limit was just right, doesn't it?"

"Yeah..." The response was unsure. "Well, lets go back, then..."

He pointed the camera towards the tunnel. Barely visible in the distance, a light glimmered.

"I can see the exit... funny, I thought it was later."

"We haven't been in here that long." Jake started walking, and Green fell in step next to him. "Lets get out of here. I think you're starting to get to me."

"What do you mean, _I'm_ getting to you?"

Jake laughed, then winced as Green punched his arm. "Ahaha, ow, okay, I'm sorry. Seriously though, lets get out of here. I'm getting tired. You should probably get that camera off your eye, I'm sure you've got a nasty mark..."

Green nodded, the camera moving in sympathy, before finally pointing towards the ground. "I'll turn it off. This thing's probably running low on power..."

As the two boys chatted, something passed across the ground. A strange, flat shape, almost like a shadow, but not dark like one... instead, it seemed to flicker between light and the color of the stone floor. The camera flickered as well.

It turned off.


	5. Encounter

Disclaimer: Pokemon is not mine. If it was, it would never be this popular. :B

The final chapter. It's twice as long as the others, which isn't saying much. At least this was a fun little thing to write. Maybe later, I'll do some more with the glitch pokemon. I've got ideas.

Thanks for reading.

* * *

"-the camera on, Green!"

"I've got it on!"

The view strobed wildly, catching smears of brown, red, and white. It eventually focused, shakily, on Jake. Before him was the back of a Charizard, it's wings spread and tail lashing in a show of aggression.

"It's on!" Green sounded frantic. "It's working!"

"Great!" Jake sounded excited, but in a different way. He looked at the camera with a wide grin. "Quick, see if you can get it on film!"

Green moved to the side, past the blocking wings of the Charizard.

The camera flickered. A vague, senseless _something_ filled the screen, looking more like the camera was broken than any living thing. A soft, scratching noise was in the air, under the growling of the released Charizard.

"I'm going to fight it! If we capture this, it'll be even better than just film!"

"Are you cra-"

"Charizard, use Flamethrower!"

The Charizard flapped its wings, it's tail flame flaring as it released a stream of flame at the thing. It drew back as the flames hit it and punched through, leaving a lopsided hole that quickly closed as the thing gathered together, its body cycling through shades of red.

Green backpedaled. "I think it's going to attack!" As soon as he had said that, the creature flowed forward, throwing its mass against the Charizard. It broke up as it hit, flickering pieces hitting the walls and slowly oozing down and towards the larger mass.

The Charizard roared in pain, flapping it's wings and spitting fire in an attempt to break the mass off. Green kept the camera focused a moment longer, then had to back up as the flames came dangerously close to him. For a moment it caught Jake, who was also moving away from the center of the action.

"Keep the camera rolling, Green! Charizard, use Fire Spin!"

The Charizard roared, flames erupting from his mouth and twisting into a vortex. The red glow of fire filled the tunnel, the camera turning white as the light overpowered the low light vision.

"Augh!" Green shouted in pain, the camera averted. "That nearly blinded me..." He shakily focused it on Jake. There was a wild, excited look on his face, and he had what appeared to be an Ultra Ball clutched in one hand. Then he looked at the camera, frowning.

"Green, what are you doing? You should be filming this!"

Green was silent, and then the camera nodded, turning to the fading pillar of fire. The Charizard was half panting, half growling at the mass of the strange creature, its colors flickering grey and brown as it receded away from the Charizard.

"It's weak..." Jake's mutter came from off screen. His next words were louder.

"Pokeball! GO!"

The black and yellow sphere arced through the air, landing in the midst of the flickering grey mass. For a second, it seemed as if it would simply be absorbed. Then it broke open, spilling red light onto the creature. A high pitched squeal filled the air, and then was cut off as it was turned into energy and drawn into the ball.

It closed, and shook once... twice... and again...

The ball stopped moving, flashing a light.

The only sound in the tunnel was the heavy panting of the Charizard, as well as Green's own breathing, picked up by the camera.

Finally, the silence was broken.

"It... worked?" Green sounded shaky, the camera's focus on the ball, and then Jake. The other trainer was staring blankly towards the ball. Then, a grin slowly spread across his face.

"It _worked_!"

Jake shot forward past the Charizard, picking up the ball and babbling. "We caught it! The legendary Pokemon! This is amazing!"

Green backed up a bit, a worried tone in his voice. "Great... now lets get out of here..."

Jake continued, heedless. "Just imagine! We'll be famous... never mind the Pokemon League, this is way bigger than that!" There was a tone in his voice... one that wasn't quite pleasant.

The Charizard suddenly lifted its head, a growl in its throat that echoed another rumbling. Green gasped.

"Was that... Jake, we've gotta get out of here _now_!" He sounded urgent. "The last thing we need is to be caught in a cave in!"

Jake didn't seem to notice, caught in his own world. The rumbling increased, and the camera started to shake.

"Oh, screw this- let's _go_!"

The view of the camera flew. It finally stopped, a heavy thud signifying that it had hit the ground. It recorded as Green ran towards the babbling Jake, grabbing his shoulders and shaking them. "Damnit Jake, snap out of it! It's just a Pokemo-"

He was cut off. There was the sound of rock splitting, drowning out the Charizard's roar. There was a red glow in the tunnel now, as magma oozed from the walls, crackling menacingly.

A crazed laugh split the air.

The camera went dead.

_There was almost no warning when Mt. Cinnabar erupted._

_The fact that the entirety of Cinnabar Island could be evacuated was considered a success of it's government. While the city itself was frozen in lava, none of its people were._

_However, note was taken of the Nurse of the Pokemon Center, who mentioned having seen two boys talking about exploring the cave system of the volcano the day before._

_The two, identified as Jacob Summers and Green Lobate, were rising stars in the Trainer world. A search was called, though it was known that if they had been in the tunnels when the volcano erupted, there would be no chance of their survival._

_Not even their bodies were found._

_However, one searcher discovered the crushed and charred remains of an old camcorder on the beach of the island. While it was beyond repair, the tape inside had miraculously survived._

_It held on it an interesting tale..._

END


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